AUGUSTA – Lawmakers and state officials got an indignant earful Wednesday from Maine’s foster care community. Criticizing a proposed decrease in payments to the families who care for the most emotionally needy youngsters in state custody, foster parents attending a special meeting at the State House said the proposal devalues the work they do and will put Maine children at risk.

“Never have I seen such contempt and disrespect for therapeutic foster parents and the abused and neglected children in state custody,” testified Edward Wentworth, a 30-year veteran foster parent. Wentworth and others speaking at the meeting encouraged lawmakers to reject the plan and called for a tax increase to support the state’s foster care system.

The cuts are part of Gov. John Baldacci’s contentious biennial budget that is being dissected in committee rooms throughout the State House. Looking to shave about $12 million from the Bureau of Child and Family Services over the next two years, state officials propose cutting the highest level of foster parent funding from $75 a day to $45 a day as well as privatizing a number of legal and administrative functions provided by the state.

Officials acknowledge these changes are hard to make, but say the result will be a simplified and streamlined foster care system that gets children settled into permanent living situations sooner. Foster parents say the system is working fine and that the pay cuts will be a deal-breaker. Especially in the specialized category of “therapeutic” foster care, they say, the sharp decrease will make it impossible to provide the level of supervision needed.

The morning meeting in the legislative council chambers brought together foster parents, private agency administrators, officials from the state’s Department of Health and Human Services and a scattering of legislators. It was organized largely at the insistence of Brewer foster parent Marvin McBreairty.

Foster parents took a significant pay decrease just last year, McBreairty reminded the crowded room, when Baldacci’s supplemental budget cut daily payments by as much as 50 percent. This new proposed cut, he said, further “devalues” the essential work of foster parents and will discourage new families from opening their homes to children who need a safe and stable place to live.

“Budget cuts to the foster care system should be at the very bottom of the list for consideration,” he said. “It is an injustice that it has been floated to the top.”

There now are about 2,600 minors in the custody of the state – babies, children and teens who either have been abandoned by their parents or legally removed from abusive or neglectful homes. The state’s goal is to reunite these children with their families or find an adoptive family within two years. In the meantime, they are placed in foster care. The state now pays foster families between $16.50 and $75 per day per child for their services.

All these children are scarred to one degree or another and need special attention. But those who are determined by the state to need a “therapeutic” foster home placement have such intense emotional needs and present such strong behavioral challenges that at least one parent needs to be present in the home all the time. This means that one or both parents consider their parenting duties their profession and do not hold outside jobs.

Shirley Malenson of Starks told officials at Wednesday’s meeting that the state has placed six high-needs children with her and her husband. Because the children, who range from toddlers to teens, suffer from autism, schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and other psychological impairments, both she and her husband stay home to care for them.

“Between them, they have 68 standing monthly appointments,” Malenson said. “Several do not sleep.” If the state reduces the amount it pays for the children’s care, Malenson said she would be forced to work full time, leaving her husband to meet the extreme demands of their foster children.

James Beougher, recently named director of the Bureau of Child and Family Services, said Maine pays more for foster care than any other New England state except Connecticut while having among the worst rates in the nation of getting children settled into permanent homes. Changes proposed in the budget and the reorganization of DHHS will improve services as well as cut costs, he said.

A spokesman for Baldacci said the governor will appoint a foster care work group to help fine-tune the provisions of the budget.

Beougher and others at the foster parents meeting took a short break for lunch before heading into a jam-packed public hearing on the DHHS budget in the Appropriations Committee room. Many who spoke at the morning meeting reiterated their concerns at the public session, including Rep. Sean Faircloth, D-Bangor, who called for a new “user fee” on alcohol, soda and cigarettes to fund services for Maine children.